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Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith

1: THE BIBLE, GOD’S HOLY WORDWe believe in the verbal
inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Old Testament and the New
Testament Scriptures. We believe the Bible* reveals God, the fall of man, the
way of salvation, and God’s plan and purpose in the ages.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: In the world of constant change and compromise of Biblical
values and morals that we live in today, we feel the need to be specific as to
the term “Bible” used throughout this Statement of Faith.

It is
the conviction of Berean Baptist Church and of all the ministries of Berean
Baptist Church that God, through the Holy Spirit, only communicated one Bible
and not many different “versions” of His Word to mankind, and this “one” Bible,
specifically being the Holy Bible which was translated and printed from the
original manuscripts known as the Textus Receptus, and was then translated into
the English language commonly known as the Authorized King James Bible of 1611.
(This is not to be confused with the New King James Version which does not hold
true to the doctrine and convictions of the Authorized King James Bible of
1611.) Any and all reference henceforth in this Statement of Faith will
therefore refer to the 1611 King James Bible. Please refer to II Timothy
3:16-17 and II Peter 1:20-21.

The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible,
and God-breathed, and therefore are the final authority for faith and life. The
sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine
revelation of God to man. The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to
their normal grammatical-historical meaning. Therefore the King James
Bible (1611 Authorized King James Version) shall be the official and only Bible
translation used by Berean Baptist Church and its ministries.

2: DISPENSATIONALISMWe believe that the Scriptures interpreted in
their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules
of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These
dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather are divinely ordered
stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these
dispensations, being the law, the church, and the kingdom, are the subjects of
detailed revelation in Scripture as seen in Genesis 1:18, I Corinthians 9:17,
II Corinthians 3:9-18, Galatians 3:13-25, Ephesians 1:10 and 3:2-10, Colossians
1:24-25 and Colossians 1:27, and Revelation 20:2-6.

3: THE
GODHEADWe believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three
persons, specifically, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, coequal in power and glory,
and having the same attributes and perfections as shown throughout Scripture as
noted in Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, II Corinthians 13:14, John 14:10, and
John 14:26.

4: THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST JESUS
First of all, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God,
became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit
of God and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and
redeem sinful men as noted in Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6, Luke 1:35, John 1:1-2,
John 1:14, II Corinthians 5:19-21, Galatians 4:4-5, Philippians 2:5-8, etc.
Secondly, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption
through his death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary
sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical
resurrection from the dead as described in the Word of God in Acts 2:18-36,
Romans 3:24-25, I Peter 2:24, Ephesians 1:7, I Peter 1:3-5, etc.. Lastly,
we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended bodily to Heaven, and is now
exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the
ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate as recorded in Acts
1:9-10, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 9:24, Romans 8:34, I John 2:1-2.

5: THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRITWe believe that the Holy
Spirit or Holy Ghost of God is a Person who convicts the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural Agent in
spiritual regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ at the
moment of salvation, indwelling and sealing them until the day of redemption as
noted in John 16:8-11, Romans 8:9, I Corinthians 12:12-14, II Corinthians 3:6,
and Ephesians 1:13-14.

We further believe that He, the Holy Spirit or
Holy Ghost of God, is the Divine Teacher who assists all believers to
understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty
of all the saved to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God for His use and
service as taught in Ephesians 1:17-18, Ephesians 5:18, and in I John 2:20 and
I John 2:27.

We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of
spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and
teachers in this present Church age to equip believers in order that they can
do the work of the ministry as stated in Romans 12:3-8, I Corinthians 12:4-11,
I Corinthians 12:28, and Ephesians 4:7-12.

We also believe that the sign
gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing,
were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or
necessary sign of the filling or baptism of the Holy Spirit and that the
ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation
of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer
the prayers of believers for physical healing as is plainly taught in I
Corinthians 1:22, I Corinthians 12:28-31, I Corinthians 13:8, and I Corinthians
14:21-22.

6: THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MANWe believe
that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin
all mankind fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God;
and, that man is totally depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy
his lost condition as taught in Genesis 1:26-27, Romans 3:22-23, Romans 5:12,
Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1-3, and Ephesians 4:17-19.

7:
SALVATIONWe believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to
sinful man by grace and is received by personal faith in the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on the cross of Calvary
for the forgiveness of sins as seen throughout the Bible, but especially in
John 1:12, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:8-10, and I Peter 1:18-19.

8: THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERSWe
believe that all the redeemed, once saved by grace through faith in Christ
Jesus, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Jesus Christ forever as
shown to be true in John 6:37-40, John 10:27-30, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:38-39, I
Corinthians 1:4-8, and I Peter 1:4-5.We further believe that it is the
privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through
the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of
Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh as shown in Romans 13:13-14,
Galatians 5:13, and in Titus 2:11-15.

9: THE CHURCH
We believe that the local church, which is the body and espoused bride of
Christ, is solely made up of born again persons as shown in I Corinthians
12:12-14, II Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 1:22-23, and in Ephesians 5:25-27.

We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is
clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures as seen specifically
in Acts 14:27, Acts 20:17, Acts 20:28-32, I Timothy 3:1-13, and in Titus
1:5-11.

We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any
external authority or control as noted in Acts 13:1-4, Acts 15:19-31, Acts
20:28, Romans 16:1, Romans 16:4, I Corinthians 3:9, I Corinthians 3:16, I
Corinthians 5:4-7, I Corinthians 5:13, and I Peter 5:1-4 and that no religious
hierarchy has any scriptural grounds to dictate and run the affairs of any
local church.

We recognize water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the
Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age as noted in
Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:41-41, Acts 18:18, and I Corinthians 11:23-26.

10: SEPARATIONWe believe that all the saved should live in
such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Saviour and Lord; and, that
separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures,
practices and associations is commanded of God as declared in Romans 12:1-2,
Romans 14:13, II Corinthians 6:14 - II Corinthians 7:1, II Timothy 3:1-5, I
John 2:15-17, and II John 9-11.

11: THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS
CHRISTWe believe in the “blessed hope”, the personal, imminent
return of our Lord Jesus Christ Who will rapture His Church out of this world
prior to the seven-year tribulation period foretold in God’s Word, the Bible.
At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus Christ Himself will personally and visibly
return to Earth with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom
which was promised to the nation of Israel as we read in Psalm 89:3-4, Daniel
2:31-45, Zechariah 14:4-11, I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Titus 2:13, Revelations
3:10, Revelation 19:11-16, and Revelation 20:1-6.

12: THE
ETERNAL STATE OF THE SAVED AND THE UNSAVEDWe believe in the bodily
resurrection of all men, the saved resurrected to eternal life with Christ, and
the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire for
their rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour as written in Matthew
25:41-46, John 5:28-29, John 11:25-26, Revelation 20:5-6, Revelation 20:12-13.

We also believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from
the physical body and present with the Lord in Heaven, where in conscious bliss
they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to
be glorified forever with the Lord as stated in Luke 23:43, II Corinthians 5:8,
Philippians 1:23, Philippians 3:21, I Thessalonians 4:16-17, and Revelation
20:4-6.

We further believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after
death, in conscious punishment and torment in Hell until the second
resurrection, when with the soul and body reunited they shall appear at the
Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be
annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment as
taught in Matthew 25:41-46, Mark 9:43-48, Luke 16:19-26, II Thessalonians
1:7-9, Jude 6-7, and Revelation 20:11-15.

13: THE PERSONALITY
OF SATANWe believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and
the cause of the fall of mankind; that he is the open and declared enemy of God
and all mankind; and, that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire
for his open rebellion against God as stated in Job 1:6-7, Isaiah 14:12-17,
Matthew 4:2-11, Matthew 25:41, and Revelation 20:10.

14:
CREATIONWe believe that God created the universe in six (6)
literal, 24-hour days. We openly reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age
Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin based upon
Genesis chapters 1 and 2, and Exodus 20:11.

15: CIVIL
GOVERNMENTWe believe that God has ordained and created all
authority consisting of three (3) basic institutions:

1. The Home2. The
Church3. The State

Every person is subject to these authorities, but
all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed
by His Word. God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities
with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the
other. The home, the church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their
Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God according to Romans
13:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24, Hebrews 13:17, and I Peter 2:13-14.

16: MALE AND FEMALE SEXUALITYWe believe that God has
commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage
between one man and one woman. We believe that any form of Sodomy, which
includes homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, and incest, along
with any form of fornication, adultery and other pornography are sinful
perversions of God’s gift of sex as stated plainly in God’s Word in Genesis
2:24, Genesis 19:5, Genesis 19:13, Genesis 26:8-9, Leviticus 18:1-30, Romans
1:26-29, I Corinthians 5:1, I Corinthians 6:9, I Thessalonians 4:1-8, and
Hebrews 13:4.

17: DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGEWe believe that God hates
divorce and intends marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. Divorce and
remarriage is regarded as adultery except on the grounds of fornication.
Although divorced and remarried persons or divorced persons may hold positions
of service in the Church and be greatly used of God for Christian service, they
may not be considered for the offices of Pastor or Deacon as noted in Malachi
2:14-17, Matthew 19:3-12, Romans 7:1-3, I Timothy 3:2, I Timothy 3:12, Titus
1:6.

18: ABORTIONWe believe that human life begins at
conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion
constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is
murder. We reject any teachings that abortions of pregnancies due to rape,
incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the
mental well-being of the mother are acceptable in the light of God’s Word,
specifically Exodus 21:22-23, Exodus 23:7, Job 3:16, Psalm 51:5, Psalm
139:14-16, Isaiah 44:24, Isaiah 49:1, Isaiah 49:5, Jeremiah 1:5, Jeremiah
20:15-18, and Luke 1:44.

19: MISSIONSWe believe that God has given the church a great
commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great
multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of and for Christ, we must use
every available means to get the Gospel to every part of the earth, beginning
in our own “Jerusalem” and taking that Gospel message unto the uttermost parts
of the world through foreign missions. We are commanded to go to them and not
wait for them to come to us as noted in the Great Commission found in Matthew
28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, and II Corinthians
5:20.

20: LAWSUITS BETWEEN BELIEVERSWe believe that Christians
are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the
church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the
resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do
believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from
another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without
malice or slander. Scriptures pertaining to this are found in I Corinthians
6:1-8 and Ephesians 4:31-32.

21: PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITYWe believe that children are
the heritage of the Lord, that God has given parents the responsibility to rear
their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and that God requires
parents and the Church to diligently teach their children the Word of God and
to provide them a Christ-centered education consistent in all respects with the
beliefs and teachings of our faith as noted in Deuteronomy 6:6-25, Proverbs
19:27, Proverbs 22:6, and Ephesians 6:4.

22: AUTHORITY OF THIS STATEMENT OF
FAITHThis Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our
faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We
do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith accurately
represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore, is binding upon all the
members of Berean Baptist Church and upon each faculty member of Berean Baptist
Church and each of its Church related ministries.

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